Christine Sinclair stands by criticism of semifinal referee

LONDON - With a bronze medal around her neck and the benefit of a few days to cool off, Canadian soccer star Christine Sinclair was asked if she felt the strong criticism she fired at a Norwegian official earlier this week - criticism that joined in a chorus from the rest of the Canadian team - might have gone a bit too far.

“No,” Sinclair said on Friday.

So, you stand by your comments?

“Yes,” she said.

No need to clarify them?

“It's an emotional game,” she said. “We'd just lost a chance at a gold medal. For some of us, that's a childhood dream, gone. And yeah, we felt it was a little unfair at times.”

Norwegian referee Christiana Pedersen became the target of Canadian fury after a heated semifinal game between Canada and the United States on Monday. Pedersen issued a few unusual calls, including a rarely seen delay of game against goalkeeper Erin McLeod that led to a tying goal and, ultimately, a 4-3 win for the U.S. at the London Olympics.

“It's a shame in a game like that that was so important, the ref decided the result before it started,” Sinclair fumed to reporters that night. Teammate Melissa Tancredi said she told the referee: “I hope you can sleep tonight and put on your American jersey because that's who you played for today.'”

The next day, FIFA, soccer's governing body, announced it was opening an investigation into incidents “after the conclusion” of the game. There was speculation FIFA was really deciding whether it might suspend Sinclair for the bronze-medal game, which struck fear into the hearts of Canadian soccer fans.

“That's what I hear,” Sinclair said on Friday. “With some of the things that we said to the media, if they were going to suspend myself or Melissa Tancredi, then they would have had to suspend our whole team. We were frustrated and mad, and I think we refused to just be okay with it - we wanted to say things, because that's how we felt.”

Canada rebounded three days after its loss to the U.S. to win the bronze medal with a 1-0 win over France on Thursday.

And yet, below the obvious pride in the medal, there were still embers of something close to anger as a handful of players and coach John Herdman assembled for a generally lighthearted media conference.

“We have won the bronze and we're absolutely thrilled with that, yet knowing we were so close to being in that game, and knowing that we took the Americans to the absolute brink and they have the gold medal … still a little bitter,” Sinclair said.

They lost on Monday, and Herdman gave them all of Tuesday to mourn. On Wednesday, they returned to work, having done their best to suspend their anger at what happened against the U.S. in order to focus on France. (FIFA announced on Wednesday it was not in a position to finish its investigation, or level any punishment, until after the bronze-medal match. No further announcement has been made.) Sinclair led the tournament in scoring with six goals, including all three in the loss to the U.S., which has been hailed as one of the finest overall performances the women's game has seen. The 29-year-old from Burnaby, B.C., has already served as a Canadian flagbearer - carrying it into the Pan American Games last year in Mexico, where Canada won gold - and she is now the focus of a campaign on the social media website Twitter to carry the flag in the closing ceremony in London this weekend.

She said she would be honoured, but that she would want her teammates to accompany her into the stadium.

“She's a special woman,” Herdman said. “Canada has been privileged to watch her play for these many years. I think there's been a bit of a void in her career, and that was filled last night. And what a great time it would be for someone to lead Canada around - she's been a servant of Canada for so many years, she's inspired so many kids.”

Herdman paused for just a second when asked if he thought Sinclair should be named the flagbearer: “Um, Prime Minister first?”

“She deserves everything she gets in life,” he said. “And hopefully she gets a flag to carry around.”

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